Nation watches mutely as the popular comedian is not allowed to perform for 12th time in 60 days
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui shared a heartbreaking note on social media on Sunday, November 28, indicating that he may never perform on stage again after Bengaluru Police made him cancel his show that was scheduled to take place on Sunday, November 28.
“Today, the Bangalore show has been cancelled under the threat to vandalize the venue, and over 600+ tickets were sold. This show was a charitable show, all money from this show would go to late Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar,” Faruqui wrote as he reminisced about being jailed in Indore in January this year for a joke he never made.
“Putting me in jail for the joke I never did to cancelling my shows which has nothing problematic in it. This is unfair, this show has gained so much love from people in India irrespective of their religion. I think this is the end. My name is Munawar Faruqui and that’s been my time. You guys were a wonderful audience. Goodbye. I’m done,” he concluded the note shared on Instagram.
“Nafrat jeet gayi, artist haar gaya (hate has won, artist has lost). I’m done, goodbye. Injustice,” he captioned the post.
With 700 tickets sold the show that was to take place at Good Shepherd Auditorium in the city’s Ashok Nagar area had to be cancelled after right-wing groups Jai Shri Ram Sena Sanghathan (JSRSS) and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) threatened that they will storm the venue and not let Faruqui perform.
In the wake of threats, the Bengaluru Police wrote a letter to the organisers of Faruqui’s show, stating “there is credible information that several organisations are opposing this stand-up comedy show and it could create chaos and disturb the public peace and harmony, which may lead to law and order problems.”
The police letter also said, “It is learned that Munawar Faruqui is a controversial figure as he has made controversial statements on other religions’ gods.”
Following this, the auditorium informed the show organisers that they will not let Faruqui perform. On Sunday morning, the show was eventually cancelled.
